Santa Barbara High track & field’s 4×800-meter relay squad headlined a strong weekend of action at the Mt. SAC Invitational and the County Championships this weekend.
The Dons team of Blaise Snow, Magne Henriques, Bode Andrulaitis and Andreas Dybdahl combined to run a time of 7:45.47, which is a new school record.
Along with it being a Santa Barbara High record, the time was second-best in California and fourth in the nation this year.
“Just really smart, confident racing from all four guys,” Dons coach Olivia Perdices said. “They announced it as the US No. 7 in the stadium, but we found out later it’s actually the 4th-ranked outdoor time this year. Either way, it’s so impressive and there’s lots of room to build on it.”
Snow then came back as an individual and ran a personal-best time of 1:54.44 in the 800-meter race, which was good for third place.
“Another beautifully executed race for Blaise,” Perdices said. “He ran with the pack and stayed smooth and out of trouble then took a shot at the lead with 200 meters to go.
“That’s an impressive double coming off a 1:55.16 split on the relay last night.”
Also in the Mt. SAC Invitational, Santa Barbara’s Elina Stump finished third in the triple jump with a personal record of 36-5.5.
“She hit it on her first jump to put herself in the finals, then had a 36-4.5 on her last jump to back it up,” Perdices said of Stump. “That’s a clutch performance for a freshman on a stage like this.”
Santa Barbara High will compete in the Channel League finals on Thursday at Rio Mesa High School.
San Marcos
The Royals broke a school record as well, as the boys 4×1,600 team of Ben Callanan, Gage Minne, Cole Heckman and Ashton Johnson finished with a time of 18:27.76.
“These boys have worked all cross country and track season to be at their best,” San Marcos coach Marilyn Hantgin said. “We could have used them at the County Championships today, but I knew breaking the school record was something they really wanted to do.”